sinclair zx80 power supply on 2600?

[Niku-Sama]

would it work? i has the same plug but i dont know what the voltages for the 2600 are.

the sinclair power supply is 9V 650Ma output.
its a 6 switch 2600.

[Steve W]

I remember using my 2600's power supply on my Timex Sinclair 1000, so hopefully they should be close in their power requirements. I don't know offhand what power the T/S 1000's power plug ran at.

Give it a shot and try the ZX80 plug out. Your 2600 can only explode once.

[Dave Farquhar]

The 2600 is 9v, 500 mA. Excess amperage is fine--the 2600 will only draw what it needs. Too little amperage can be a problem.

The polarity could definitely be an issue, however. Verify the polarity before you plug it in; reverse polarity will fry most electronics. The 2600 power supply I have indicates the tip is positive.

[Niku-Sama]

dont suppose theres an easy way to figure out the polarity with out a multimeter

[Pantechnicon]

The polarity is the same for both the 2600 and the TS1000 and the amperage issue has already been addressed. From personal experience, I used to run both of these machines off of my TS1000 adapter back in the day with no problems.

[Niku-Sama]

i hope a 1000 and a zx80 are the same because i am gonn try it ina minute

[blue lander]

I've used a 2600 power supply with a TS1000 and it worked fine. The 2600 almost certainly pulls more current than a ZX81 does, though, since there's only like 4 chips in the thing. So it's possible the 2600 might burn out your power supply.

[Dave Farquhar]

The polarity is indicated with a marking on the label, usually near where it gives the voltage, amperage and/or wattage. The marking will look something like this:


+ ---C--- -

The side that looks like a letter "C" is the barrel, while the other side is the tip. In this case, the tip is negative and the barrel is positive.

So, if you've got an AC adapter to look at, or if you're lucky enough to have the appropriate markings on the device itself (some do, some don't--Google is your friend when they don't), that's how to read the marks.

[Niku-Sama]

there wasnt any thing like that i also couldnt find any thing power supply specific on the sinclair side of things...

so i just tried it and it works....sadly some of the carts i got in this lot do not but thats what happenes when you leave your shit in the rain at a flea market (dumb peoples!)

my wireless controllers work too...last night i played laser blast (i think it was laser blast) almost all night

[Dave Farquhar]

Hmm, after cleaning the contacts on the carts thoroughly, I would expect those to work. It's just a simple PCB inside with a ROM chip, so there isn't much to break. You can open the cart and look for oxidation, and see if the chip is seated properly (assuming the ROM chip is socketed--sometimes they were socketed and sometimes they were soldered). A nifty trick is to take a cotton swab, cut it in half, chuck that into a Dremel or a drill, dip the tip in some rubbing alcohol, and then use that to clean the contacts. It cleans out the grime a lot faster than rubbing by hand would.

I'm glad the Timex-Sinclair power supply worked out for you.